Classical water ices are typically frozen sugar solutions flavoured with fruits, yet without added milk protein and fat (see Ice cream. 5th edition. Edited by Robert T. Marshall and W. S. Arbuckle. Chapman & Hall, Chapter 1, p 1-2.). Such compositions are usually non-aerated or very little aerated. Due these characteristics, water ices and related frozen confections may turn very hard. Therefore such water ices have a relatively unattractive mouthfeel and may be unpleasant to eat. Even though there are ingredients that may help to soften water ices somewhat, there remains the general problem that such water ices tend to harden upon storage under frozen conditions. This so-called post-hardening therefore reduces the possibility of making softer water ices which maintain their attractive sensory characteristics during a typical commercially relevant shelf life. Other water ice-based confectionaries suffer from the same hardening upon storage. In the case of water ice based frozen drinks this will lead to a perceptible aggregates of ice crystals giving an unpleasant mouthfeel. Likewise, it is impossible to make soft ice-like confections based on a water ice format, using a scraped surface heat-exchanger as is typically used for ice creams, because such formulations would relatively quickly become impossible to extrude.
One way of making water ices softer would be to increase the sugar content, but this would increase the caloric content of the confection, which is perceived as unattractive by many health-aware consumers. The same applies to the addition of oils and fats. Moreover, addition of oils and fats would make turn the water ice into an ice cream, which is not what consumers expect from a water ice.
Different types of additives have heretofore been explored to modify and/or enhance the organoleptic properties of water ices. Notably, such additives include hydrocolloids such as gums. However, using gums at levels at which they would suppress post-hardening would yield water ices that give rise to an unpleasantly slimy or sticky mouthfeel once they are molten. Insoluble dietary fibres, such as cellulose fibres, have also been investigated, mainly for their use as stabilisers and shape retention aids.
For example, WO 2012/072335 relates to the use of enzyme-treated citrus fibre as a stabiliser in ice-cream. It discloses in its Table 1 a frozen confection (Formulation 1) that comprises 0.75 wt-% citrus fibre. The formulation was homogenised at a pressure of 140 bar and enzyme-treated before being frozen.
JP 59/042,850-A discloses an ice dessert composition comprising microfibrillated cellulose obtained from wood pulp as a stabiliser.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,981 relates to use of parenchymal cell cellulose to improve comestibles. It discloses that the addition of parenchymal cell cellulose to foodstuffs, drugs and other comestibles can improve the physical, physicochemical and stability properties of such materials.
In view of the above, there remains a need to provide novel ways to reduce or suppress post-hardening of water ices.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a frozen confection that overcomes one or more of the problems observed in the prior art as described above.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide frozen confections including water ices and related product formats which suffer less or not at all from post-hardening effects.
It is another object of the invention to provide frozen confections based on the water ice product format that retain their intended relative hardness over their commercial shelf life.
It is yet another object of the invention to reduce or even suppress post-hardening in water ices and/or related product formats, whilst maintaining other desirable characteristics.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method to manufacture frozen confections that exhibit reduced or suppressed post-hardening.